Posted on 20 April 2011 | One Comment

Corey Helford Gallery
Presents

“Blurring the Lines”
CRASH, FREEDOM and RISKCurated by Roger Gastman
Opening Reception Saturday, April 30, 2011 from 7‑10pm
On View April 30 – May 18, 2011

On April 30, Corey Helford Gallery is pleased to present “Blurring the Lines”. The gallery’s first exhibition of graffiti art masters will showcase new works by CRASH, FREEDOM and RISK, curated by Roger Gastman, co-curator of MoCA’s “Art in the Streets” and co-author of HarperCollins newly released book “The History of American Graffiti”.

Bringing together three internationally-recognized graffiti artists who are concurrently featured in MoCA’s “Art in the Streets”, the first major US museum exhibition on the history of graffiti and street art, “Blurring the Lines” is a dynamic intersection of legendary East and West coast writers, where the lines that divide urban art and the new contemporary fine art world converge.

Renowned New York graffiti artists CRASH and FREEDOM will take over the main floor with recent works inspired by their iconic imagery that was shown along alongside art luminaries Jean-Michel Basquiat, FUTURA, and Keith Haring during the 80s. A master at subway art, CRASH was also one in a handful of New York writers who painted murals on the streets during the early 80s while exhibiting at prestigious galleries worldwide. At the same time, FREEDOM moved into a larger space in Manhattan, an abandoned two mile stretch of tunnel designed by Robert Moses that would become the legendary Freedom Tunnel, launching a sixteen-year run of world-famous paintings and drawings.

For his first major gallery exhibition in almost twenty years, FREEDOM notes, “While CRASH and I have worked together over the years, this will be our first gallery exhibition together since 1987, which is exciting.”

Upstairs in the loft, famed Los Angeles graffiti artist RISK, whose bus installation is prominently featured outside of “Art in the Streets” at The Geffen Contemporary at MoCA, will unveil “Styles for Miles”. Created on canvases constructed from vintage license plates, RISK’s new works represent his graffiti career as whole, tying together elements from his origins writing on freeway overpasses to his commercial projects and gallery and museum exhibitions.

Open to the public, the reception for “Blurring the Lines” will take place on Saturday, April 30 from 7 to 10pm, and the show will be on view until May 18, 2011.

Chris Pape / FREEDOM

Born in 1960, Chris Pape began painting trains as a teenager in New York, and in 1979, he adopted his world-famous moniker FREEDOM. Pape began exhibiting in galleries in the early 80s showing with CRASH, Jean Michel Basquiat, FUTURA and others. In 1989, with the emergence of the “Mole People”, he chose to abandon his gallery career and focus on painting and drawing the homeless known as the Freedom Tunnel series. In 1996 the tunnel was closed off and the artist painted his final work titled “Buy American”. Considered by many to be the leading archivist of the New York subway graffiti movement, Pape reemerged as an author and filmmaker, continuing to paint commissions based on the eclectic works in the Freedom Tunnel for collectors worldwide.

John Matos / CRASH

Growing up in the Bronx, John Matos began his career at the early age of 13. He was first noticed through his murals on subway cars and dilapidated buildings. As he got older, he transferred his art from the street to canvases and has exhibited his work in museums worldwide. In 1996 Matos painted a signature Stratocaster for musician Eric Clapton and gave it to the artist as a gift. Clapton used this guitar throughout his 2001 tour. In total Matos has created five guitars for Clapton and was commissioned by Fender Musical Instruments for 50 guitars he titled the “Crashocasters.” Today Matos is not only recognized as a fine artist, he is also regarded as a pioneer of the graffiti movement. Matos’ work is included in the collections of Museum of Modern Art, New York, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn as well as private collections worldwide. For more information about the artist, please visit crashone.com.

Kelly Graval / RISK

In a career spanning 29 years, RISK has impacted the evolution of graffiti as an art form in Los Angeles and worldwide. RISK gained major notoriety for his unique style and pushed the limits of graffiti further than any writer in L.A. had before: He was one of the first writers in Southern California to paint freight trains, and he pioneered writing on “heavens,” or freeway overpasses. At the peak of his career he took graffiti from the streets and into the gallery with the launch of the Third Rail series of art shows, and later parlayed the name into the first authentic line of graffiti inspired clothing. RISK has continued to work on numerous Hollywood projects for movie and music video sets, including the film Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and videos for The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ice Cube, Bad Religion and Michael Jackson. Today, RISK is still involved with graffiti, surrounding himself with writers and supporting them in their art, and exhibiting at galleries and museums worldwide. For more information about the artist, please visit riskrock.com.

About Corey Helford Gallery

Located in the Culver City Art District, Corey Helford Gallery was established in April 2006 by Jan Corey Helford and her husband, television producer and creator, Bruce Helford (The Drew Carey Show, George Lopez, The Oblongs). Passionate art collectors, the Helfords are producers on the art documentary The Treasures of Long Gone John and have partnered to open their first gallery. Corey Helford Gallery presents a wide range of artists, from members of the new fine art movement, such as Ron English, Josh Agle (SHAG), Buff Monster, COOP, Natalia Fabia, Korin Faught, Sylvia Ji, Eric Joyner, Chloe Early, Ray Caesar, and award-winning photographer Chris Anthony, to early Modernist William S. Schwartz. Renowned for its notable exhibitions, the gallery has presented “Charity By Numbers”, which was co-curated by Gary Baseman and featured an unprecedented lineup of artists including Mark Ryden, Marion Peck, Shepard Fairey, Todd and Kathy Schorr, Camille Rose Garcia, and Michael Hussar, as well as “La Noche de la Fusion”, an epic Carnivalesque festival and solo exhibition for Pervasive artist Gary Baseman. In 2010, Corey Helford Gallery partnered with Bristol’s City Museum & Art Gallery for the transatlantic collaboration “Art From The New World”, a world-class United Kingdom museum exhibition showcasing work by a formidable group of 49 of the finest emerging and noted American artists. Corey Helford Gallery presents new exhibitions approximately every four weeks. For more information and an upcoming exhibition schedule, please visit coreyhelfordgallery.com.